This patent document makes reference to an appendix which includes a program listing. This listing is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of this listing, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office files and records, but reserves all other copyright rights whatsoever.
This invention relates to systems and methods for training or improving the visual attention capabilities of a subject.
Ball U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,434, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, describes an efficient and reliable method for diagnosing deficiencies in a subject""s Useful Field of View (the UFOV(copyright) parameter). As described in detail in the Ball patent, a series of visual displays are presented to the subject, who is asked to identify a foveal target and in some tests to locate a peripheral target. The peripheral target is positioned at varying radial distances from the foveal target and at varying angular positions. In some displays the peripheral target is embedded in a field of distractor elements.
The UFOV(copyright) parameter is defined as the spatial area or visual field extent that is needed for a specific visual task. As explained in the Ball patent, measurements related to the UFOV(copyright) parameter can be used in diagnosing deficiencies in a subject""s visual attention capabilities.
At columns 12 and 13 of the above-identified Ball patent, various modes are discussed to improve the visual attention capabilities of a subject. In each of the three modes, the UFOV(copyright) parameter is calculated, and changes in the displayed visual tests are made based on the value of the UFOV(copyright) parameter. As explained previously in the Ball patent, calculation of the UFOV(copyright) parameter entails displaying multiple visual tests at a common display time and varying peripheral target eccentricities. Thus, for example, three different values of peripheral target eccentricity can be used for each respective display time to allow calculation of the UFOV(copyright) parameter.
Another prior art visual attention training program is disclosed in a thesis authored by Lauren M. Jackson xe2x80x9cThe Effects of Decreased Uncertainty and Telescopic versus Full Field Training on the Useful Field of Viewxe2x80x9d at pages 38-41. In this document, a set of visual tests is defined including a central task, a peripheral target and a display duration. Eccentricity of the peripheral target is then increased when the subject displays a selected level of accuracy in identifying the central target and locating the peripheral target. However, the display time is never altered in the training mode disclosed by Jackson.
The present invention is directed to an improved training method and apparatus that avoids the need to calculate the UFOV(copyright) parameter, and that varies both display time and eccentricity to provide effective training of the subject.
The present invention is defined by the following claims, and nothing in this section should be taken as a limitation on those claims. By way of introduction, the preferred embodiments described below present a subject with multiple sets of visual tests. Each test includes at least one of the following elements: a central target, a peripheral target, and a set of distractor elements. First and second difficulty parameters are held constant within each set. When the subject achieves a desired success rate for two successive sets, the difficulty of at least a first one of the difficulty parameters is increased for the next set up to a maximum value. When the subject achieves the desired success rate for two successive sets and the first difficulty parameter is at the maximum difficulty, then the difficulty of at least the first difficulty parameter is reduced for the next set of tests and the difficulty for at least the second difficulty parameter is increased for the next set of tests.